Point of sale (POS) terminals allow customers to easily pay merchants, and typically include a card reader, such as the magnetic stripe card reader or a Europay/Mastercard/Visa (EMV) integrated circuit (IC) chip card reader. POS terminals also typically include a computer and a network interface through which the computer can communicate the information read from the card to a payment server that then authorizes and completes the transaction.
Portable POS terminals sometimes use an existing mobile device, such as a smartphone, to fill the role of the computer and network interface, where a separate card reader device communicates with the mobile device.
Increasingly, mobile devices are manufactured to be as small as possible and with as few ports as possible. Most modern mobile devices only include a single port—either a Universal Serial Bus Type C (USB-C) port or an Apple® Lightning® port.
There is a need for card reader devices with USB-C plugs and Apple® Lightning® plugs.